More than 100 people shouted at the Old Main walls yesterday to protest the use of sweatshops to make university apparel.
The rally was one of many events held by student groups over the past two-and-a-half years to encourage Penn State President Graham Spanier to include the university in the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP), which the university says may violate anti-trust laws.
Penn State has refused to join unless the Department of Justice approves the DSP, which lists approved factories that universities pledge to use for their apparel.
Students have played wiffle ball in the Old Main lobby, delivered Valentine's Day cards to Spanier's office and marched nude through campus in support of workers they say "endure starvation wages, dangerous working conditions, long hours and forced overtime."
But the issue -- which has been debated in State College for nearly a decade -- is not just a matter of human rights, student activists say. It is a multi-layered, complex problem that can be addressed from many angles: From economy to labor and from business to international studies.
An international issue
Companies turn to sweatshops for their cheap manufacturing cost to lower prices, which has become important in a fiercely competitive global economy, said Terrence Guay, a Penn State international business professor.
"It's not just about people being exploited in sweatshops," he said, adding that Asian and Central American countries are concerned tough labor regulations could impede sorely needed economic development.
Developing countries argue that the United States underwent a development period during the Industrial Revolution when kids worked in factories, workers put in 60-hour workweeks and dangerous conditions led to deaths and injuries, he said.
Asia says its own Industrial Revolution is underway, and its current concern is getting food on its citizens' tables, Guay explained. He added that in the future, Asian countries plan to address human rights issues.
Alex Colvin, a professor of labor studies and employment relations, said some experts argue that poor conditions in factories are a means for developing countries to advance economically.
"Some say it is actually helping out a poor country to get up the next rung of the ladder," he said.
Colvin said the argument comes down to a chicken or egg dilemma: Do countries address labor rights or move up the developmental ladder first?
It is simplistic to argue that the United States went through a "natural" process to become economically sound, Colvin said. A fierce labor rights movement had to occur before 40-hour workweeks and weekends emerged, he said.
Allowing countries such as El Salvador to become developed "naturally" is not realistic, Colvin said.
People have preconceptions, he said, that the United States has strong labor rights protections, but it actually has little employee protections.
Colvin said some countries consider the United States their "China" because jobs are sent to the United States because it has weaker unions, limited protection against employee firings and no paid maternity or paternity leave law.
Penn State Abington labor studies professor Lonnie Golden said the United States has sweatshops within its borders in violation of its own law against sweatshops.
Golden, who specializes in research about work hours, said sweatshop labor is accepted as a route to development in some regions.
"If you have workers willing to work under these conditions and it's not forced labor, these are people from rural areas and take a factory labor job, then they sacrifice their own well-being," he said.
Consumer pressure
Sweatshop-made apparel will not be addressed seriously until more consumers care about where their products are made, Guay said, and most American shoppers who go to the mall don't ask where the product was made.
"If you want a cheap item, it was probably made as cheaply as possible," Guay said. "The growth of Wal-Mart is an indicator that it is always about price."
But the production process, with thousands of suppliers, is like a river: There are so many tributaries feeding into the final product that regulation is nearly impossible, Guay said.
One of the big questions is how far down the chain the inspection process should go, he said. Should universities yank contracts if something bad is found?
He said many companies create codes of conduct that lay out labor rules. But there is no enforcing regulatory body, Guay said.
He said the Fair Labor Association, a nonprofit group, inspects factories for safe conditions, but many sites avoid exposure through pre-announced visits and non third-party observers.
Colvin said the International Labour Organization, which is affiliated with the United Nations, was founded in 1919 to set international labor standards, but has no enforcement powers.
Penn State perspective
Yesterday's rally was sponsored by Penn State student groups United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) and the Student Labor Action Project, who have encouraged the university to adopt the DSP.
In February, Spanier released a letter to the student groups calling their demonstrations "rude and inappropriate."
USAS member Ben Brewer said during yesterday's rally that the groups will not support the administration's "longstanding policy of doing nothing."
The students were not invited to participate in a symposium tonight sponsored by the university, but they will still attend, Brewer said. The forum will feature speakers from the Workers Right Consortium, as well as several licensees.
The DSP is a non-traditional strategy that focuses on the consumers versus the suppliers, Colvin said. But, he added, pressure needs to be placed on governments to follow their own codes of conduct.
Almost 40 universities, including Columbia and Cornell, have joined the DSP, according to the DSP's Web site, workersrights.org.
Ellen Dannin, law professor at Penn State Dickinson School of Law, pointed to the Ricardo economics theory as a context for the global economy. Economist David Ricardo wrote that a company would move its operations to an area where it will have the most advantage, Dannin said.
The theory once excluded wages as a part of the equation; but more frequently, companies are making decisions based on wages, she said.
Dannin said the potential for change lies in students, who display other good intentions through events like the Penn State Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon. While students display compassion for children during Thon, they may not realize children could be making the clothing they wear each day, Dannin said.
"So I wonder if they would really wear the clothing if they knew that they were made by children?" she said.
